After a dismal 2014 performance, where they didn’t pick up a single point for the first time in their history, Sauber were aiming to at least pick some points up in 2015.
Running a blue and yellow livery courtesy of new sponsor Banco do Brasil the Swiss team arrived in Melbourne having completed the second most laps in testing – behind Mercedes – but the pace was still questionable.
The team’s season began with a legal dispute after their 2014 reserve driver Giedo van der Garde claimed his contract had been breached, and that he was promised a drive for 2015. However, the team stuck to their driver lineup that included rookie Felipe Nasr and the team eventually reached an agreement with Van der Garde.
The opener in Australia saw Nasr, and former Caterham driver Marcus Ericsson both fail to get to the final part of qualifying, with the former just missing out in 11th. However, the race was a different story altogether with Nasr up in 5th place and Ericsson in 8th to come away with 14 points, the team’s best haul since Japan 2013.
The second race in Malaysia saw Ericsson get the car through to the final round of qualifying, but found himself beached in the gravel during the early part of the race and the team ultimately left the weekend picking up no points.
Both cars managed to finish in the points in Bahrain, with Ericsson 10th and Nasr 8th, but their early season pace began to tail off, and the team only picked up two points over the next seven races. Those two points came in Monaco when Nasr managed to capitalise from a late safety car moment to finish 9th.
The mid-season saw an increase in performances, and Ericsson managed to pick up points in the Hungarian, Belgian, and Italian Grand Prix’s before Nasr took over in the Singapore GP to complete four consecutive races in the points for the team.
Nasr impressed in Russia by taking home 6th place, before finishing in 9th for the United States Grand Prix putting the team on 36 points, which they would eventually finish the season with, after failing to score points in any of the final 3 races.
Overall Sauber’s season was called a “success” by Ericsson, but team principal Monisha Kaltenborn was more critical and felt the team didn’t maximise their chances in 2015 and expects more for next year.
Felipe Nasr – 27 points (13th in the drivers’ championship)
Having been promoted from GP2, the Brazilian driver impressed in the 2015 season, especially early on when he managed to finish the opener in Australia in 5th place. This turned out to be his best result of the season, coming close in Russia, but often found himself fighting amongst the struggling McLarens outside of the points. He ended the season having out qualified and out raced his teammate on the most occasions and Sauber confirmed him as their driver back in July.
Marcus Ericsson – 9 points (18th in the drivers’ championship)
Many questioned Sauber over the choice of Ericsson after a fairly poor first season with Caterham. However, he proved to be a solid performer, demonstrating some good overtakes, and for the most part of the year putting behind those unforced mistakes we saw him make in the Caterham. However, he’ll have to perform better in 2016 after he was outclassed by his rookie teammate on most occasions this year and finished the season as the lowest ranked driver other than the Manor-Marussia’s.
